I was given a 93 Shadow by my uncle a few months ago. Its a 2.5 auto with 120k on it. It has a few problems and I just want any advice anyone can give
1) Tranny (auto) seems to be going out. It is a real rough shift between 1st and 2nd, if I am easy on the pedal it sort of clunks into gear, if I am hard on it then it is more noticeable. If I accel too hard through the rough shift then the shifting gets messed up and it doesn't go into 3rd or 4th until much higher than normal. I have learned to take it easy, but is this serious? Could it die at any moment or will it last me another 20k? Flushed recently by previous owner, fluid looks/smells new.
2) Engine temp seems off. There is no marking on the temp guage I'm guessing its at 160. When I first got the car I replaced the broken thermostat and it got slightly better to where it is now (160 or so). I barely have heat in the winter (blower works but temp is low). Even now that weather is warm it stays at 160.
3) What is this for? Theres a 3/4" (?) hose going from the valve cover on one end to between the air filter and the throttle body on the other. It seemed to be leaking oil but I ignored it for months and finally today I looked at it. I was split at the connection so I put a clamp on it and will replace it some other day.
4) What is this air hose?, about 1 3/4" diam, goes straight down from the bottom of the filter and the other end is open dangling by exh man. I can't see any obvious connections and I have no idea what its for or if it is supposed to be connected somewhere.
Thanks for reading. Any help/advice/links would be greatly appreciated.
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Problem #1
Replace the vacuum hose coming out of the tranny (down near the trans pan) and going into the intake. If this doesn't clear things up you might have to replace the shift modulator this is the part the vacuum hose goes into on the tranny.
Problem #2
Try having the cooling system flushed, you might junk stuck inside the heater core.
Problem #3
Thatsounds like part of your emissions (PCV)I would just replace the PCV and not worry.
Problem #4
The only time I seen anything that sounds like that it led into the catalytic converter. Again part of your emissions. Is the car slightly loud?
__________________
Only a guy who looks like this would own a show Aries!!
My rides:
1987 Aries coupe (1 of 926 surviving 87 coupes)
1984 Chrysler 5th Ave.
(Me as a Simpsons character!)
1) I'll do the vacuum hose this weekend, hopefully that works.
2) Needs to be done anyway, coolant has never been flushed and it looks disgusting. By 'have' it flushed I hope you don't mean take it to a shop because I am buying the $5 Prestone kit and injecting my garden hose into a heater hose. If thats not good enough then I don't care because I don't plan on having this car for more than another year, and this IS supposed to be 150k coolant....Excuse me while I die laughing.
3) Thats what I thought.
4) I did notice noise coming from the cat when I 'repaired' the broken exhaust yesterady so i'll bet you are right. 'Repaired' means ghetto rigged, but on my 3rd attempt, this one seems solid, even though it does leak a little it is 2700% better than having my exhaust end under my seat, emitting fumes while rattling the whole car and having co-workers ask "I think I saw you driving today, do you have a really loud car?"
A Prestone kit should do the trick, when you have it flushed at a garage the machine they use puts negative pressure on the system and with the age and mileage on your car most shops wont do it because it could damage your radiator or heater core. When you flush it remember to read the labels on the coolant, there are different types out there today, I always buy the 50/50 mix that Prestone makes, somewhere on the label it says either "SAFE FOR ALL SYSTEMS" or " COMPATIBLE FOR ALL SYSTEMS".
__________________
Only a guy who looks like this would own a show Aries!!
My rides:
1987 Aries coupe (1 of 926 surviving 87 coupes)
1984 Chrysler 5th Ave.
(Me as a Simpsons character!)
Ok I got worked on it a bit the last week.
-Flushed radiator, I haven't gotten it up to op temp yet but I don't think that will fix the temp problem. I did it mainly just to fix the dirty coolant (doesn't look like head gasket leak, coolant was just muddy and oil is clear.). I will look at the coolant temp sensor tomorrow.
-PCV valve is good but the elbow was broken. Replaced that after visiting 3 auto part stores to no avail and finally buying one off ebay. $4 shipping for a $1 part ::sigh::.
-Oil leak from other valve cover hose seems to be stopped after clamping it.
-Replaced spark plugs. I wish I would have looked at them sooner, they all had huge mileage gap and #1 and #2 electrodes were carbon fouled with center electrodes corroded down to almost nothing. #3 and #4 had the large gap too, but normal brown deposits. I'm guessing #1 and #2 piston rings are seeping since they are the only ones with carbon. Is that a logical conclusion? For the moment I'm not going to do anything about it.
I drove it for a few miles and wow do the new plugs make a difference. Hopefully I will see some nice mpg increase.
-Distributor rotor and contacts were corroded - wires had decent ohm reading so I replaced the rotor and flipped the wires over to the clean side.
-I fixed half of my transmission problem. There is no vacuum line like you mentioned, only electrical x2, and throttle connection. The throttle link was very rusty, so it must have been getting stuck in WOT position. I sprayed the lever with WD40 and bam!, now it shifts beautifully at the correct speeds. I am much less worried about the trans now, it has the rough 1st-2nd shift but it doesn't seem too bad. Also, when test driving after all this I got a high pitch whine at high rpm in 1st - I won't be doing that anymore!
-I still have to look at the timing belt, but with 120k miles I should probably replace it regardless, correct? Ugh that will be some work.....
Yeah don't worry about the PCV hose, for my sundance I ran no airbox For a while (Filter on top of TBI) and let the hose dangle in the wind. For the tranny Hows the fluid? Is it full, empty, or filled with chunks?
Sorry about not responding for so long,I've been busy with graduation,job changes,etc.The timing belt probably doesn't need replacing as long as a pervious ower replaced it at least once, but good news! if it breaks the engine is non interference and it's not that much work. As for number4 in your original post i can't believe i didn't think of it earlier, Im pretty sure thats the EGR, at least thats what mine was when it rotted off. unless you're an eskimo, desperately want to save the dolphins, or have strict emission inspections then you should be fine.
I got my sundance with 120k and it now has 170k
Ireplaced the plugs, wires, air filter, and muffler (with a glasspack)
Afew oil changes
and beat the daylights out of it
examples: 55 MPH+ on ATV trails and rough dirt roads, a few trips to the strip, winding out 1st gear around 40, needing 4 new tires every year (from switching front to back when bald)
I found my car to be amazingly reliable and it didnt mind the abuse, then again mine was running perfect when i got it.
if driven like a normal person without spending hundreds on gas each week (I used to get about 15-18MPG) then shadows are great cars. Im glad to have gotten it as a first car compared to say a Cavalier,sunfire,4 cyl. mustang etc. etc.
93 Shadow new owner looking for advice
